Heir
by anxiousgeek
Summary: Tony/Pepper - Tony needs an heir. Or thinks he does. Borderline crack!fic. It's slowly going somewhere. Complete.
1. Heir

"So," Tony said, and, at the tone of his voice; a sort of mischievous questioning tone, Pepper looked up, stealing herself for the outrageous demand.

"So?"

"So, you. Me. Babies? What d'you think?"

"Mr Stark?" She wasn't really sure what he was asking. He wanted her to get him babies? Jelly babies?

"I need an heir."

"You need a lobotomy."

"Maybe, but I also need an heir."

"This isn't the 18th century Tony, and you are not a monarch."

"No, but I am a billionaire, with a massive multi-national corporation and no heir," he said, shifting his chair closer to her, frowning when she moved it a little back. "And while you do currently inherit everything, you're only a few years younger than me and just as childless."

"I'm going to ignore the insult," she said, "wait, I inherit everything?" He grinned, and moved closer again, looking gleeful when she didn't move away this time, and stayed at her position at her desk.

"Pretty much."

"Since when?"

"About three years ago."

She thought about that for a moment, he'd only been Iron Man for six months, only been this reformed character for six months. Except, maybe he wasn't all that different after all.

"Why me?" she asked. She had to ask. One thing Tony Stark had always appreciated about her, was the fact that she pushed him, '_harangued_' him, when she needed to.

"Can't think of anyone else I'd want my company in the hands of," he said, "can't think of anyone else I care about that much."

"Oh."

His feelings always left her feeling a little out-field, and she looked at him, realised out close he was, and moved her chair a few inches back again.

"Don't get excited, Happy gets the cars."

She laughed at that, then went back to file on her desk that they had been discussing, forgetting for the moment the subject that had gotten them to this point.

"So, you gonna have my baby?" he said.

"What?"

It felt like a slap in the face every time he said, but she didn't know why.

"You, me, babies?" he said.

"You want me to have your baby?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Have you completely cracked?" she asked. "Is this the sign of your mental instability setting in?"

"Oh please," he said, leaning back in his chair at the side of her desk, "I know you've never considered me to be mentally stable."

She tried to hide her grin but failed when she saw Tony's raised eyebrow.

"True," she muttered quietly. "I still think you're cracked."

"Is that really something you should say to your boss?"

"Do you really think asking your PA to have your baby is appropriate?"

"I'm not asking you as my PA. I'm not asking you as a woman," he said. "A really hot, smart woman."

He finished the sentence with a look over her body and she blushed, then sighed, scowling at him.

"Cracked," she muttered, standing up to walk away. Tony reached out quickly and grabbed her wrist.

"Wait," he said. She looked at him, and let him pull her back to the chair, not letting go of her until she was sat down, moving his own chair even closer.

"Is that all you want from me?" she asked. "A baby?" He didn't reply and shew continued. "Because I might be willing to donate some eggs to the cause."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh," she said, nodding.

"Oh."

He was stunned into silence, and little did that to him. In fact, Pepper knew she was only the one who could do that and it was a rare thing. She decided to take advantage of it before he composed himself.

"You weren't serious were you?" she asked, grinning.

"Deadly. I didn't think you'd actually agree, or compromise."

"I'm serious," she said.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Then why not have my baby the natural way."

"Because that would involve having sex with you Mr. Stark."

The '_Mr. Stark_' made him laugh.

"You don't want to have sex with me?" he asked, smiling when she hesitated, then blushed brighter. "You do want to have sex with me."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

"Tony."

"Pepper."

He stared her down and she sighed.

"I wouldn't mind having sex with you."

You wouldn't mind? Jeez Pepper, could you be any less enthusiastic."

She bit her lip, holding back another laugh and looked back down at the paperwork. That was safe, Tony Stark was not. Not anymore, not since _Iron Man_. He was staring at her, and she was very aware of that and she didn't know what to say to him, how to shut down the conversation. This was way beyond harmless flirting.

Maybe, there was no such thing as harmless, after all.

"So," he said, and she kept her head down, "you, me, babies?"

She chuckled.

"You'd make a great mom. I'd be a great dad, naturally," he said, trying to make eye contact, "but you'd be something else."

She looked up at him finally.

"That really indicates more than me donating some eggs Tony."

"I don't want you to donate some fucking eggs. I want you to have my baby."

"Artificial insemination?"

She was teasing, mostly, pushing him again, and she wasn't sure if he knew it. She wasn't sure what he really wanted. A baby yes, though his reasoning was flawed.

Her words had left him looking a little green.

"Okay, that's just, no. No."

She tried not to laugh.

"Are you sure this isn't just another ploy to get me into bed?"

"Since when have I ever tried to get you into bed?"

"I can think of a few times. None recently," she said. "The first two years of my employment was you trying to get me into bed. You're lucky I didn't sue."

"Yeah, lucky," he huffed. "I'm not just trying to get you into bed Pepper."

"But you are trying to get me into bed?" she said.

"Yes. And have my baby."

"Right," she said, raising an eyebrow. She knew Tony Stark very well, she was chipping away at him, getting close to what he really, really wanted. "And?"

"And, you know." He gestured between the two of them.

"I really don't Tony."

"Well, if we had a baby, we could, have a thing."

She was fighting the giggles again.

"A thing?"

"A relationship."

He'd been so casual six months ago, trying to find out if she wanted to be his girlfriend, and this was completely different, his tone, his attitude, his body language. There was nothing casual about it, and a baby would tie them together, regardless of Iron Man, regardless of his billions, his business. The idea of a child terrified him but she had figured out what he really wanted. Her, basically, and this was just another way to get what he wanted.

A crappy reason to have a baby, but very Tony Stark all the same.

She smiled at him, then leaned across and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'll think about it," she said, before getting up and leaving her office.


	2. Crazy

He was going crazy.

_'Crazier,'_ he heard the Pepper Potts inside his head say, and he frowned at the light reflection of himself in the glass walls of his workshop, trying not to growl out loud.

Pepper was driving him crazy, which, wasn't that unusual when he thought about it.

They hadn't talked much about having a baby, or having a relationship. Not because they hadn't wanted to, but because there hadn't been time. He hoped that was the case, and Pepper wasn't keeping him intentionally busy so they wouldn't have time to talk. Meetings and functions and missions (though, he couldn't blame Pepper for global terrorism, however much he wanted too) had him running from one place to another without a moment to really take a deep breath, let alone get a quiet word with Pepper.

And they had to be alone, because on the couple of occasions he had tried to approach the subject in locations less than private, she had completely cut him off by holding a hand up.

It worked every time, to his annoyance.

He even tried to kiss her on the cheek in the limo, and had ended up kissing the palm of her hand. Which had made her blush a little, and him grin, but he hadn't been quite what he had wanted.

He was going crazy with waiting for her to think about this, and for them to get a chance to talk about it. He'd gone down to his workshop when he couldn't find Pepper in his house, and couldn't get hold of her on her phone.

"You are an idiot Mr. Stark."

He looked up from the engine of his Audi, to see Pepper standing in his work shop, hands on her hips. The _'Mr. Stark' _on the end of the insult had tripped his mind up a bit, something she constantly did to him.

It drove him crazy.

"I need more details Ms. Potts," he replied, with a smile. He stood up to face her, pulling up to his full height but, as he expected, she didn't move an inch.

"You don't want a baby."

"I do," he protested.

She laughed, and he smiled, slightly confused.

"You kept me busy intentionally," he said, "didn't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, but the minute flick of her lips told him different. He leaned back back against the hood of the car and smiled.

"We need to talk."

"About what?" she said, trying to pull off innocence, which, she usually did very well.

Not today though.

"You know about what."

"I'm still thinking."

"I'm done waiting," he told her.

"I'm amazed you waited this long."

"I've been too busy."

"That's unfortunate," she said, her face schooled into an impassive feature.

The eyes had it though.

"Would you pay me?" she asked, before he could reply to that.

"Pay you?"

"To have your baby."

His mind tripped up again. Surely she wasn't that dense? Surely she knew it wasn't about a baby, not really? Then his mind regained its footing and he smiled at her. Of course she knew. She was pushing, pressing, testing him. Again.

"If that's what it took," he told her with a grin. "How much?"

"I'd need to be heavily compensated."

"Not a problem," he said, then, taking a step closer to her added, "how much to make the baby naturally."

"I'm not prostituting myself out Tony," she said, with a little venom, flushing red.

"How much to be it's mother then?" he tried, taking another step.

Her arms had fallen down to her sides and with his increasing nearness she lifted them up, holding her hands out in front of her to keep him at bay.

"I don't want your money Tony."

"Most of the time neither do I," he said.

"That's not my point."

"What is your point Ms. Potts?" he asked, taking her hands and pulling them down, out of his way. "You came in here, called me an idiot, danced around the real issue-"

"You're dancing around the real issue Tony," she said, cutting him and getting further flustered, making him smile harder, his cheeks aching from the amusement and delight of it.

"Do you want children?" he asked, "I don't just mean with me, I mean in general."

She tried to pull her hands from his grip, his hold tightening as she did so. Her failure bringing her closer to him instead, almost chest to chest. He smiled, looked her over and watched as she thought her answer over, wondering if he would get an honest one.

Of course he would, Pepper never lied to him.

"Stop looking down my top Tony," she said, a slight growl on his name, looking down at her own white blouse. The top few buttons were open, too many as it turned out, because if Tony angled his head the right way, he could see the curve of her breast, the edge of her bra. And Tony had always been good with angles.

"I'm just occupying myself while I wait," he said, looking at her face, almost laughing at the indignant look he found there.

Her sigh barely hid her smile, and he had noticed her doing that a lot over the years, smiling through her exasperation with him.

"I suppose I want children, yeah," she said, ignoring his remark and the continued glances down her top, and over her body. "But that's not the point."

"What is the point?" he asked.

"You tell me."

"I don't know."

"Neither do I."

They stared each other for a long moment, waiting for the other to break, to cave.

"So," he said, mentally slapping himself for letting Pepper beat him again, "You, me, a baby?"

"Tony," she said, sighing but not smiling. "You could have a baby with anyone."

A little spark ignited in his mind, the beginnings of a thought, a clue to what was going on in her head.

"I want to have a baby with you."

"I'm not sure that's really what you want," she said.

She leaned forward, her chest pressed against his and kissed him on the lips. He responded, quickly, but only for a moment, only for as long as Pepper let him. She pulled away and took a long step back.

"Until I know what you really want, I'm not interested in talking about anything other than business."

She walked away, leaving him to fall back against the car, her last words hurting a little.

She was going to drive him crazy, with no answers and the feel of her lips. He realised they'd gotten no where again, and this, this wasn't working. There was more going on here, for both Pepper and himself, than dancing around the idea of having a baby. He just didn't know what.

Yet.


	3. Wounds

What had started as half a joke, had become a nightmare for Tony. He and Pepper weren't speaking at all and it was heart breaking.

It had been a while since he'd had his heart broken.

They hadn't really been talking much since the second discussion about his desire for an heir, or whatever that really meant. He wasn't sure what anything meant now, except, beyond the signing of documents, she barely spoke to him. She didn't push him to go to meetings, didn't help straighten his bow tie for formal events, didn't see him off when he went on a mission.

The last straw came when there was a doctor from SHIELD waiting for him in his living room, instead of Pepper. On the flight back, he'd felt the edges of his bent suit pressing into his wounds, the worst on his thigh and shoulder blade, the entire way, feeling the blood reach his ankle by time he reached the Atlantic. He'd had Jarvis tell Pepper to have the first aid kit ready and as he'd hobbled up the stairs he'd found some grey haired, bespectacled man, sitting on his sofa, with a medical bag as old as himself next to him.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Dr Meno," he said, "I'm from SH-"

"Moreau?" Tony cut in.

"Meno," the doctor corrected, "I'm from SHIELD."

"Jarvis, where's Pepper?"

"Ms. Potts left the premises half an hour ago."

"Let's take a look at your wounds Mr. Stark," the doctor said standing up, "you seem to be bleeding quite badly," he continued following Tony through the house.

"It's nothing."

"Ms. Potts warned me you'd try and brush your injuries off."

Tony stopped them, and turned to face Meno.

"I'm not brushing my injuries off Dr. Meno, I'm brushing you off," he said, "now, let me see you out."

"You really need medical attention," Meno said, eyes on the dark patch on Tony's grey t-shirt that was blooming across his back.

"I have a perfectly qualified personal assistant."

He urged the older man towards the front entrance, and out of the door, closing it behind him as soon as he was out. The door probably hit the man on the ass, but Tony didn't really care much about him, or his wounds. only Pepper.

"Jarvis, see Dr. Meno gets off the property safely, and doesn't get back on."

"Yes, Mr. Stark."

"And call Pepper."

He waited for the phone to ring through the house, and once it did sat down for Pepper to answer. He knew she would, she always answered, always came running. It's the one thing he could be certain of.

"Mr. Stark," she said curtly.

"Pepper I need you," he was a familiar line, and often it didn't need explanation, but the way things were, he knew she'd need more than just his desire to have her jump up for him. "I'm injured."

"What happened to Dr. Meno."

"Dr. Moreau had to leave."

"Did you insult him?" she asked.

"Possibly, by accident."

"I'll call SHIELD, have them send another doctor."

"By time they dispatch someone, I could bleed to death."

"You're bleeding?" she asked and the panic in her voice pleased him a little. He was a horrible person sometimes, but she still cared. It was worth it.

"I'm dripping."

"Oh God. I'll be over soon," she said, "please try and stem the bleeding?" she asked.

"Okay."

She hung up without any niceties but he could cope with that if she was coming over and while he fetched a couple of towels for his bleeding leg and back, he considered exactly when he'd become so desperate for her company.

Probably about a week after hiring her.

He stripped his clothes back off, the blood soaking through both his sweats and t-shirt. He had to grit his teeth as he pulled the material away from the open wounds as it clung to him.

He was sitting in his boxers with his arm crossed over his chest holding a towel to his shoulder blade and another arm pressing down on his thigh, when Pepper came walking into his living room.

"Tony," she said with a sigh. She went straight to an ottoman hidden behind the sofa and pulled out the first aid kit. She sat down next to him and he pulled away the towel on his leg.

"Tony," she repeated, "you should've let the doctor look at you."

"I'm fine."

"Jarvis, call SHIELD headquarters."

"Jarvis, don't."

"Tony."

"Please Pepper, before I bleed to death."

"You've stopped bleeding," she said, leaning back a little to look at his back, "mostly."

"Before I get infected then."

She didn't reply, but he heard the halted sigh as she pulled the antiseptic wipes from the kit. She looked at the small package and frowned, pulling out a bottle of antiseptic liquid instead and some cotton wool.

"This will sting," she said, softly.

He grit his teeth again as she dabbed the cut on his leg first, trying not to hiss as she cleaned him up.

"Thanks Pepper."

"You're welcome Mr. Stark."

Curt and to the point, and he sighed, then hissed.

"Come on Pepper, talk to me."

"We have nothing to talk about."

"We have a l-OT, ow," he was cut off when she started cleaning his shoulder blade. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Not while I'm patching you up anyway," she said.

He conceded to that, and he kept his shoulders tense while she cleaned and dressed his wounds. When he felt her move away he relaxed a little, knowing no more pain was coming.

Physically at least.

"Is that all Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked, packing up the first aid kit.

"No," he said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her down to sit back next to him. "We need to talk."

"You have something to tell me?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, "Well, no, maybe."

"Tony."

"Sorry, I just," he paused. "Okay."

She smiled at him for the first time in days. It helped.

"I do want a kid, " he started, "of course, I want your kid."

"Right."

There was a long pause and she was staring at him, and he tried to look at her and once more, she was getting the upper hand and he couldn't find the words for her.

"You gotta help me out here Pepper, I don't know how to do this," he said, "anything else, but this."

She chuckled and kissed him on the cheek.

"It's okay Tony."

"It's not," he said, "for the first time in my life I don't know what I want."

She tried to hold in a laugh, making her cough. he frowned at her.

"Sorry, it's cute.

"Iron Man is not cute."

"You're not in your suit right now."

He shrugged, then groaned in pain.

"Why don't you put some clean clothes on Mr. Stark."

"I'm hoping they'll be sex at the end of this conversation."

"Not tonight," she said with a grin.

With every up turn of her lips he felt better.

"I just want to talk to you Tony."

"You can talk to me in my boxers."

She thought about it for a moment, looking him over, her eyes flickering over the wounds and she flinched minutely.

"Okay," she relented and he smiled.


	4. Talk

So they were going to talk.

He was in his black boxers, covered in white dressings and red scratches and he was sitting next to him in a black skirt, a crumpled white shirt, her red hair tied back messily. She'd been undressing when he'd called, and had thrown her work clothes back on, tied her hair up in a second and had been out of the door. They were going to talk but Pepper planned for him to do all the talking.

"Why don't you want to have a baby with me?" he asked.

"It's not that I'm against the idea," she said, hesitating over her words, choosing them carefully, "I don't understand why you want to have a baby with me of all people?"

He started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"This isn't about me at all, or having my baby-"

"It is!" she cut in.

"Okay, it's not just about me or having my baby," he corrected himself, "this is about your self esteem."

"My self esteem is perfectly fine."

"No, your confidence is fine, your self esteem is shaky."

"Shaky?"

He nodded and she frowned at him, and went to stand but his hand on her knee stopped her.

"I don't understand why me?"

"Because I love you."

"Oh."

"You didn't know?" he asked.

Of course she didn't know. He'd slept with half of Malibu since she'd been in his employ.

"No," she replied, rubbing her forehead for a moment.

She didn't quite know what to do with that information, never did when it came to Tony Stark's feelings. His actions yes, that was easy, but his feelings were alien to her.

"Oh. Look, I know how to have a...relationship," he said, "I'm not an idiot."

"O-kay."

"I just don't know how to be in love."

She chuckled again, she couldn't help herself. Tony Stark and all his vulnerabilities amused her so, especially when his bravado said different.

So she kissed him.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, mindful of his wounds, pulling him close while she kissed him. His lips were rough, and she liked it, and knew she wouldn't need to wear lipstick tomorrow. She kinda liked that idea too. When she pulled away, the bravado was back, and he was smirking, while she was blushing.

She really should've been more insistent that he put some clothes on.

"You don't need to know how to do any of this," she told him.

"I do."

She laughed again.

"You can't learn how to do it, learn how to be in love. It's a ridiculous idea."

"I can try."

"No you can't. And you can't pay anyone to research it either."

"I'm a billionaire, so I can, actually, but I probably shouldn't."

"I stand corrected," she said with a laugh.

"I'll guess I'll just feel my way through," he said, running his hands down her back to her ass.

"Oh my God, how did you ever get laid so much with lines like that?" she said, pulling out of his hold and

"I'm a billionaire," he said. "A genius, handsome-"

"Anyway," she interrupted, "I'm sure Jarvis and Rhodey will help," she said, in the condescending tone she had perfected from working with him. She realised then that their romantic relationship was going to be pretty much the same as their working relationship. She thought that should worry her but it didn't. It comforted her a little.

"So now what?" he asked.

"I was thinking clothes and some food," she said.

"I was thinking we could start on making a baby."

"No," she said sternly, and he laughed then kissed her, and she couldn't help but get caught up in him.

But she had always had more restraint then him. Everyone had more restraint than Tony Stark and she pulled away from him before he pulled her into his lap. Not that she didn't want to climb into his lap, or take him to his bedroom and strip what little clothing he had left on. Her thoughts made her grin, and blush, and she turned away to compose herself.

"What do you want to eat?" she asked, standing up.

"Do you want the obvious answer?" he asked, with a smirk.

"No."

"Then order a pizza."

"Okay. The usual."

She smiled at him but stayed on her feet.

"Jarvis, have Malibu Pizza send over our usual orders."

"Right away Mr. Stark," The AI replied.

"Coming to sit down now?" Tony asked.

"I'm not sure I should," Pepper said.

"Why not?"

"You're only wearing boxers."

"You've seen me in less."

"That doesn't help me Tony," she said with a grin. "I've also seen a lot of your lays naked."

He stood up and walked up to her. He was looking confident from the neck down, his posture free from any embarrassment about his body or the arc reactor. His face was vulnerable again, and he looked like he was working hard to smile.

"I know I don't have the best reputation," he said.

"Tony," she cut in.

"No, let me finish," he said, "I don't have the best reputation, and you know the worst of it."

"I also know the best of it, of you," she cut in again, smiling when he tripped over her words, the vulnerability showing through his entire body.

"Oh," he hesitated, "let me finish," he repeated.

"Okay."

"I know this, we aren't having the best start to this...thing."

"Thing?"

"Relationship," he said, "but we can make it work."

"I don't doubt it."

"Then come and sit down."

"Put some clothes on."

"Come on Pepper," he said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her, "I could get you off before the the pizza gets here."

"Tony!" she cried. "I don't know what's worse, that you suggested it or that it's probably true."

"Definitely true," he said.

She blushed and he smirked, going to kiss her again and groaning when she moved away.

"We still have things to talk about."

"Do they need talking about right now?" he asked.

"No, but it's important, we can't work together and sleep together, without some sort of...discussion about how things should work between us."

"Probably," he said, pulling her close to him, so their bodies were touching again, and she could feel the beginnings of his erection against her. "I'm sure you have all sorts of boring rules formulating in your mind about what to do and where, how to act and when," he said, kissing her hard and spinning her around, urging her back towards the sofa.

She let him, dropping down on the cushions when the back of her legs hit them. He stood over, his grin disappearing when Jarvis spoke.

"Your pizza order has arrived Mr. Stark."

"Fuck."

"Not yet," she said with a laugh.

"Very funny Pepper," he said, "go get the pizza."

"Right away Mr. Stark."


	5. Norm

They settled down on his sofa to eat the pizza, Tony still in his boxers. He was very aware that Pepper's eyes drifted to his chest every so often, raking down his body while they ate in silence. No TV, no music and no more conversation, if Pepper wasn't willing to get started straight away on making a baby, or at least the sexual side to their relationship, then he wasn't sure what to do or say. So he ate pizza and ogled her.

He was well experienced at both.

She'd tucked her feet beneath her, making her pencil skirt ride up her thighs a little. She'd dressed in a hurry, he could tell, her legs were bare and the top buttons of her shirt were undone lower than usual, giving him an even better view than the other day in his work shop. She was wearing a red bra, which meant a matching red thong. He knew Pepper would match her underwear and had spent enough time starting at her ass to know thongs were the norm.

He wolfed down his pizza, trying to convince himself it was because he was hungry rather than eager to get her into bed. He wanted to go at Pepper's pace, wanted to be a perfect gentlemen, whatever she wanted from him but he couldn't deny his attraction to her, his desire for her, and never had before. He wasn't quite sure what to do, except it had to be different from the norm. To the usual smooth talking, great sex and leaving the bed before she woke up.

He had to wait.

Wait for Pepper to make the next move, her move. Whatever that may be. Waiting had never been his strong suit.

It took him another ten minutes to realise she was laughing.

At him.

"What's so funny?" he asked, turning to face her, hooking his arm over the back of his sofa.

"You."

"Me."

He paused to think about this, palming his cheek, feeling his goatee for food, wondering if he'd done anything to humiliate himself in the last ten minutes.

"Me," he repeated.

"Yes."

She chuckled again.

"Don't tease Potts."

"I think you'd like it if I did," she said, her face flushing bright red the moment she finished the sentence, clamping her mouth shut.

He laughed, shifting closer to her.

"You look ready to pounce."

"Pounce?"

"On me," she clarified. "You look like you might pull a muscle restraining yourself."

"I'm not about to pounce," he said, "Maybe I'm just tense."

"Oh definitely tense Mr. Stark," she said with a wicked grin.

"I meant from the mission, or the pain, or from-" she cut him off.

"From the..." she looked pointedly down at him crotch, his black boxers not in anyway hiding his semi hard erection. He looked down at himself, then back up at her flushed face, grinning.

"Perhaps pounce is the wrong word then," he said. She smiled at him. "Eager maybe."

"Horny?" she tried.

"Always," he said, "but there's more to it."

"I should hope so," she said and he laughed, leaning forward to kiss her on the lips.

"I'm not saying, 'let's go make an hair to the Stark billions', I'm saying lets go have, ah, make love."

"Make love?"

"I know, it's a new concept to me, but I'll give it a go."

"Very reassuring."

She kissed him back, but kept him at arms' length, gripping his biceps and holding him back. His hands ran up her neck and wound up into her hair. She moaned when he massaged her scalp with his fingertips a little. She felt him smirk, and pulled away from his lips, taking a deep breath.

"I'm going him," she told him, rubbing her thumbs over his skin, trying not to laugh at his reaction.

"What?!"

"I'm going home, it's late, and I'll be on the phone to SHIELD most of the morning, apologising no doubt."

"I want you to stay," he said, trying not to look down at his crotch.

"I want to stay," she muttered, kissing him again, "but I think I should go."

He kissed her again, trying to pull her towards him, forgetting he was supposed to be waiting, unable to help himself for a second or two. Or three. When she pulled away he smiled at her.

"Okay," he said, moving back on the sofa.

"Really?"

"Did you want me to try and convince you to stay?"

"I expected it," she said, "wanted it a little."

He smiled, leaning back when she stood.

"I'll see you in the morning Ms. Potts."

"Goodnight Mr. Stark."

She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, letting him look down her top and he appreciated that. He needed all the visual stimulation he could get to help him jack off when she was gone and he was alone.


	6. Guilt

He felt guilty. For the first time in a long time, he felt guilty for jerking off, and for the first time since he'd hired Pepper, he felt guilty for thinking about her while jerking off.

He had only really felt guilty once, just that first time, when he was eleven and ruined an eighty dollar t-shirt thinking about his house maid. He felt guiltier about the shirt than he did about his thoughts though.

Now almost thirty years later, the guilt was eating at him, and his erection.

After Pepper had left he'd gone straight to bed, closing down the house and crawling between his sheets naked, thinking about Pepper with every step until he was completely hard. He wrapped his fist around his dick the second he was on his back but couldn't do anymore, couldn't move his hand.

It was pathetic.

He had a full porno running through his mind, Pepper as the star as she so often was. Had been for years. Pepper stretched out on his bed, wearing nothing at all, touching herself, pale skin flushed, breathing hard and rushed as her fingers danced over her clit, as she played with her nipples. Moaning.

God the sounds he imagined were enough to keep him hard but the guilt was enough to stop him from moving his hand, jerking off, moaning into his own orgasm as the Pepper in his head brought herself to hers.

God he wanted to fuck her senseless. Make love, have sex, whatever, he wanted Pepper, not his hand and no one else.

He tried a different fantasy, tried imagining them in the bed together but for some reason couldn't get past the guilt of it. He wasn't even sure why he was guilty, when this wasn't new, these fantasies weren't new. Pepper bringing herself off was an old favourite.

He couldn't shake the feeling though, guilt warring with arousal and losing. He let go of his deflating erection and climbed out of bed to find a pair of pyjama bottoms, he had plenty, and had only really started wearing them six months ago. Part of his post Iron Man personality. Morality, pyjamas and guilt.

He fell into an uneasy sleep, tangled up in his sheets, tormented by his dreams with naked Peppers.

zzzzz

By the morning he was practically shaking. With anxiety, arousal, something.

Guilt, he still felt guilty.

He didn't want to leave the house, didn't want to go into the office. The idea of walking through the busy lobby with a permanent semi, travelling up in the elevator to his office with it's huge glass windows looking down on Stark Industries really didn't appeal. Not with Pepper by his side, attainable for the first time ever and looking incredibly sexy in a business suit.

Sitting in meetings, with her and his semi just seemed like torture. Especially when he probably wasn't likely to get her into his bed tonight.

So he stayed at home and Pepper rang, and rang, and rang some more. Kept ringing, even after he had Jarvis tell her he was ignoring her and would continue to ignore her, but she shouldn't take it personally.

He was full of bad ideas.

When she turned up, he wasn't really surprised, he let her and the pile of files she had under her arm, in. He wasn't surprised that all the files were for him either. The guilt got worse when he saw her though, his fantasies flashing into his brain for brief moments, spurred on by her actual presence. She dropped the files on his coffee table and stood before him, hands on hips.

"You can't just blow off your duties at the office because we're starting a relationship Mr. Stark."

He fantasied about her calling him Mr. Stark in bed. The guilt grew, his dick twitched. He wished he could turn the porno that was his mind off.

"That's not..."

"There's just too much work to do that I need you for," she continued, "unfortunately, and there's meetings and documents to sign..."

"That's not the reason," he said, " and you can forge my signature, I've seen you do it."

"It's better when you sign things yourself," she said. "Slightly less fraudulent."

"I wasn't blowing off work because of you," he said, "well, it is, but it's not."

She arched an eyebrow at him, hands still on her hips and he took a breath before trying again.

"It's not about us," he tried to clarify, but Pepper just frowned at him. "Never mind. Let's just do some work."

"Explain yourself Stark."

He smiled, he was in for it now, Pepper was pissed and he resisted the urge, the need, to adjust his crotch.

"It's you Pepper, I've got a constant fucking hard on because of you and I feel too guilty to jack off!" The words came out in a rush, an angry little push of air following them.

She laughed, which reassured Tony a little because he had been a touch concerned for his balls. Not overly concerned, Pepper was a very collected woman, but he couldn't be completely sure she wouldn't attack give the right stimulus.

"Laughing is good?" he asked.

"Better than anger," she told him with a smile, eyes drifting down to his crotch, then back to his face.

"It's not like I've never avoided work, for, ah, these reasons before."

"I've suspected. You can usually take care of...it."

They were adults, it was ridiculous, but they were both blushing bright red. Pepper had a smirk on her face, but Tony could barely look her in the eye.

"I'm sorry Pepper."

"Why do you feel so guilty?" she asked.

"Because it's you and we're starting this whole relationship thing now."

"Now?"

"Normally I don't have a problem thinking abo-" He stopped talking, and didn't dare look at Pepper's face, staring at her breasts neatly hidden in a white blouse.

"About me?" she asked.

Her tone was neutral, giving him nothing to work with, forcing him to look up and see an arched eyebrow and bemused smile.

"Yeah..." he said carefully.

"I'm not sure it I'm flattered or disgusted."

"I'd venture a guess at both," he said. He cleared his throat. "Look, I'm sure it'll wear off."

"I, I kinda want to help," she said softly, "but I don't want to rush things between us Tony."

"I know, I know," he said, dropping his head.

"But maybe I can still do something."

He looked up and she stepped towards him, kissing him on the lips and running her hands beneath his t-shirt. He groaned, his hands flying to her ass and pulling her close.

"Pepper," he muttered.

"Hmmm?"

She arched her hips into his, with a smirk, rotating them slowly against him, his semi growing quickly. He kissed back hard, pushing his tongue between her lips to taste her, hands squeezing her ass and pulling her tighter against him. He was rough out of desperation, he'd been on the edge all night, almost twelve hours, and didn't think he could last long. Not with Pepper rotating her hips against his, hands playing along the planes of his chest, her lips sliding over his.

It was so good and he was so screwed.

One hand left this chest and she pulled away from his lips with a nip, pulling her upper body away while continuing to rotate her hips against his.. She reached up and flicked open a couple of buttons at the tops of her pristine white blouse.

He looked down at her perfect breasts, in their white lace cups and moaned long, all his fantasies given an edge of reality.

It was really helping.

"I'm going to make a mess of my jeans Pepper," he muttered, pulling open the blouse a little to get a better look.

"That's the idea Mr. Stark," she said in a sultry voice he'd never heard before.

"Fuck."

He was really going to come in his pants, and wasn't completely against the idea. Not with the balcony view, the fiction, her lips teasing his, it was all so good and he was so, so desperate.

He had never come in his pants. Never. Not once. He prided himself on his restraint.

A little dry humping with Pepper and he was screwed.

"This is not conductive to making an heir," he groaned, and she laughed, the vibration of it rippling through him in the most delicious way. "Oh. Fuck," he groaned again, jerking hard once, twice, wrapping his arms tight around her as he came. "God Pepper."

He held her like that for a minute or two, until he came down from his little high, then took a full step away, grimacing at the wetness at his crotch. He could feel his cheeks blushing hot, but Pepper was only a little flushed and grinning at him.

"I'll leave these files with you Mr. Stark," she said, glancing down at his jeans, then back up.

"Er, thank you Ms. Potts," he said trying not to move too much in the sticky jeans. "You'll come for dinner right?" he asked.

"I'd love too."


	7. Change

He'd gone all out for dinner, table settings, meal cooked, shirt and tie. Nothing particularly unusual about it all except that he'd done it all himself. There was no chef, no serving staff, she'd checked with Jarvis earlier that evening to find out if Tony needed anything or anyone for tonight. It was all his own efforts though, and she was impressed, he didn't usually do so well on his own. She'd had never been entirely convinced he could do up his own tie but it was perfect. He looked perfect.

He waved a hand towards the table and smiled, a hint of a blush staining his face.

"It's only pasta, but I have some nice wine to go with it."

He was casually leaning back against the dining room table, one hand fiddling with his black tie. He looked a little nervous, and Pepper felt the same.

"I'm sure it's wonderful Tony," she said, walking up to him, and kissing him softly. "Feeling better?"

He blushed bright red then and she tried not to laugh.

"Er, much better, thanks you."

"You don't have to be nervous Tony, we have dinner all the time," Pepper said, shifting against his body to lean some of her weight on him.

"Not like this."

"Is it really so different?" she asked. "Minus my suit and your oil stains, not much has changed from when we had dinner last week."

"Last week was different. I didn't want..." he hesitated. "It's just different Potts."

"You didn't want to what Tony?" she asked, wrapping an arm around him and making herself comfortable. She liked being in the crook of his arm, warm and safe. It scared her a little that she felt like that already, and so strongly. "Fuck me?" she continued. "Have my baby, date me? Because I bet you did."

"When did you get so evil?"

"I've always been this way. Don't you remember?"

She kissed him again, a little harder and deeper, because she wanted to, needed to, pressing her body into his. She'd gotten a little worked up herself this afternoon '_helping_' Tony out, and the arousal had stayed around since.

"I don't want things to be different," she mumbled against his lips, swallowing his happy groan when she pushed her tongue into his mouth.

"Why not?"

"It won't work," she stated flatly. "Things between us are good, we can add things to the relationship, but we shouldn't change it."

"Oh."

He thought it over, then kissed her, turning her around and pressing into her with a moan.

"I really want this to work," he said.

"I know you do. So do I."

"Cause when it works, we can start making babies. Actually babies, I didn't mean that as a euphemism for sex. We can go have sex now, I just-"

She cut him off with a kiss, before pushing him away from her and taking a long step away from him.

"Dinner first," she told him. His little pout made her chuckle and he pulled her back to him.

"Will you stay the night?"

"If you make it worth my while."

"Will you move in?"

"Ask me another time."

He smiled at her, and let her move back again.

"Expect an email about it next week.

"Duly noted Mr. Stark."

He groaned at the use of his name.

"Okay, we need some rules, no calling me Mr. Stark in bed or I'm going to have hard-ons at the office."

"We're not in bed Tony."

"Not yet we're not."

He kissed her again, wrapping his arm around her, and holding her tight, and tighter still when she tried to pull away. She managed to pull back from his kiss, her body still pressed against his.

"Tony," she warned. He grinned at her.

"Sorry," he said, "I really want...an heir."

She laughed and they settled down to eat.

z

Dinner turned out to be the normal affair Pepper had hoped for. She'd been afraid that it would be awkward, but when he teased her for eating her food in a certain order, like last week, she felt able to chide him for not eating his salad like last week. The only differences were her foot sliding up his calf, and that she wasn't stopping him from looking into her cleavage. Normally she didn't have so much on show, and she felt good, it felt good to let him look too. No sighing, or scowling, no pretending she was outraged or annoyed, when she usually wasn't fussed. Tony Stark couldn't help himself, on occasion she had reflected that it was nice just to be on his radar. That he noticed she was more than just his P.A.

The fact that he loved her had knocked her a little. More than him wanting a baby, her baby.

"This is new," Tony said, knocking her thoughts sideways.

"Hmm?"

She looked up from her pasta to see him smiling at her, a curious look on his face.

"The look on your face," he said, "it's your contemplative look but with what I think is arousal," he said, a little smug in his assessment of her. Tony had always been able to read her well, something that had bugged her a lot during the first few years of her employment. It annoyed her that he thought he knew her so well, just because he could read her body language, her expressions, now he did know her, maybe not as well as she would like but she had kept her distance for a reason.

Everything was changing.

She didn't deal with change well, not in her own life, not when Tony's was in constant flux.

"Maybe," she said, her voice all sex, a contrast to the burn of the blush she could feel on her cheeks.

"We can skip dessert," he said with a smirk.

"What is dessert?"

"I made cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake."

"You made it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"From scratch."

"Really?"

"Jarvis!" Tony called.

"Mr Stark did indeed prepare the cheesecake from the beginning," the AI chirped, "it took him six hours and he destroyed three-"

"Okay, that's enough thank you!" Tony interrupted, Pepper laughing opposite him, not trying to hide at all.

She reached across and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. The blush on his face was adorable, he was adorable, though she knew he wouldn't want to hear that again. She could torture him with that adjective later. It was nice to let herself think these things, that he was cute, sexy, that she did purposely torture and tease him for her own entertainment and not just to get things done.

"It sounds great Tony," she told him.

"It keeps," he said, with a grin, "over night at least."

"I suppose," she smiled again, but she wasn't sure about this. She felt like they had already crossed some sort of line the day before, but to keep moving further away from it? _'Really not sure about that'_. She'd seen him engaged in a few different sexual acts but had never been actively involved. Not like yesterday.

"Pepper, I'm not going to rush you, really," he said, "I love you too much to fuck it up, so you lay down the rules, the time frame, if we don't have sex until we're old and married I'll accept that. I won't like it, it might kill me, but I'd at least try," he paused a moment, "though it'll put a spanner in my plan to have an heir, but if that's what you want to do..."

"It's not Tony."

"Good."

She laughed when he appeared physically relieved he wouldn't have to wait until they were in their seventies to have sex. She wasn't sure how he'd made it this long without any sex, she imagined him masturbating often, but had never thought that would be enough for Tony Stark. A conversation for another time she thought.

"I'd do it thought," he said, when she didn't say anymore.

"I know," she said softly.

"And if that's not proof I love you, then, I don't know what is."

"I don't doubt that you love me."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded.

"So, sex or chocolate cheesecake. I know it's a hard decision for a woman."

"Not every woman is chocolate obsessed."

"But I know you really, really like cheesecake," he said, poitning a finger at her

She smiled.

"Didn't your mother tell you it's rude to point?" she said, grabbing his index finger.

"Possibly, but that's off the topic," he said. "So?"

"So...maybe we should have the cheesecake," she told him after a beat, letting go of both his hands.

"Okay."

He was smiling when he said it, and she'd expected disappointment but saw none, she expected him to try and talk her round her little more too. Try and talk her into bed, but he stood up and kissed her on the cheek, before disappearing into the kitchen.

Her life was changing.


	8. Imagine

She regretted going home.

She didn't regret having dessert with Tony, the cheesecake and the conversation had been good. The moment she slipped into her bed however, she regretted saying goodnight and going home. Tony had kissed her soundly before she went, one hand slipping beneath the short skirt of her dress to cup her ass. He was willing to wait for her, but he really couldn't help himself. Sometimes she wondered if he could tell the difference between engineering and sex, or if his life had blurred into one.

In bed, alone, she was still aroused, could still feel the hum of it in her blood. Could still feel Tony's hands on her ass and his fingers in her hair.

His lips on her neck.

Damn him.

In bed she couldn't stop thinking about him, and, for the first time in her employment under Tony Stark, she couldn't ignore her attraction to him. Not with first hand information to fuel it.

She slipped a hand beneath her shorts and cupped herself, holding her hand still for a minute, letting the warmth of it seep through her body. It was a nice feeling and she tried to imagine Tony's bigger, rougher hands cupping her body so intimately. Tried to imagine his fingers moving minutely, because he could never keep still, and turning her on further, she could feel the wetness building, feel more arousal building.

She sighed, a little audible moan following and she clamped her mouth shut. She hated making noise when she was masturbating, it made her paranoid, like she was in college again and could be caught by her roommate at any minute. Like she was staying a hotel room away from Tony and could be caught by him at any minute, with a hand on her breast and the other playing with her clit.

She bit down on her bottom lip as she slid a finger down to her entrance, then back up to her clit, pressing down. She gasped, Tony's name there but she managed to keep it down. She imagined him watching her, sitting in the chair at the end of her bed. Leaning forward, eyes on the hand between her legs. Moving slowly she teased herself, tried to imagine what Tony would do. Tried to remember what Tony _had_ done during those accidental glimpses into his sex life she had caught over the years.

He would tease, push, make her beg and scream. She knew that much at least and she relished it. Regretted the fact she wasn't experiencing it then.

She pushed a finger into her body, holding back another gasp. She had slim fingers, and it was a light, pleasant intrusion. She moved her hips against her hand, thinking about Tony in the chair, watching and touching himself.

Pepper had always wanted to show Tony exactly what she thought about him.

Another finger, more movement and she couldn't quite keep silent. With every thrust of her fingers into her body, a small _'uh'_ noise escaped her. She pressed her thumb down on her clit, bit down another moan, thought about Tony being unable to keep his hands to himself. Imagined him leaning forward and touching her. He had never touched her before, with any real sexual intent, not even during those first few years of employment when he tried to get her into bed. He used his charm, carefully chosen words, awful innuendo, but didn't touch. She imagined it though, had done for a long time, his fingers filling her, lips on her clit.

She wished she wasn't so paranoid or self conscious when masturbating, wished she could use her vibrator. She could make it so glorious, though it was already feeling like it was going to be better than the usual release of pent up arousal and frustration. First hand information, the feel of those hands, that warmth. She was close, she knew exactly what to do to herself, and with the added stimulus, it was quicker in coming.

She pushed her camisole top to one side with a little desperation, eyes still squeezed shut, imagining Tony Stark between her legs. She cupped a breast, pulled at her nipple, moaned louder than she would've like had her mind been clearer.

_Oh, how she regretted going home, alone._

It hit suddenly. It felt unexpected despite every action being for this one purpose, hitting her hard, pleasure spiking through her body. Little cries of _'Tony'_ over and over on her lips while she shook a little, her back arching, pushing her hips into her hand hard as she crested. She fell back to the bed, back to her room, and lay still, hand still between her legs, the other falling from her breast, but not far as it remained tangled in the material of her camisole.

"Oh God," she whimpered, pulling her arm free after a couple of minutes, her breathing calmer. "Needed that," she added to the walls, pulling her other hand from between her legs, glancing at the chair at the end of her bed and smiling.


	9. Names

The next day Pepper wondered why she didn't feel the guilt Tony had. It was a similar situation. Not the first time she'd brought herself to orgasm thinking about Tony Stark, but now they were in a relationship, and he'd struggled so much with the guilt.

She on the other hand was up early for work, happy, energized and unable to keep the blush from her cheeks.

She supposed actually having orgasm helped, and knowing Tony had tried the same a couple of nights before.

"Good morning Ms. Potts," Jarvis said, as she stepped into the mansion. He sound as happy as she felt, but it was possible she was projecting.

"Good morning Jarvis," she replied, dropping the post onto a side table.

"You are very cheerful this morning Ms. Potts," the AI observed, "coffee is ready in the kitchen for you."

"Thank you Jarvis. Is Mr. Stark up?"

"He is in the workshop."

"How long has he been down there?"

"One hour and seventeen minutes," he told her, and she thought it over. It could be either good or bad.

"Is he in a good mood?"

"Mr. Stark also seems quite cheerful this morning."

Pepper laughed, and grinned all the way down the stairs to the workshop, two mugs of coffee in one hand.

"Tony?" she called out, when she was passed the door, and unable to see him. His head popped up from behind a work bench, smiling at her.

"Ms. Potts," he greeted.

"Mr. Stark."

"That for me?" he asked, looking at the mugs in her hand.

"Of course, Dummy prefers soda."

"Ha-ha. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit Ms. Potts."

"Is that why you use it so often Tony?" she asked, blushing. She couldn't quite believe she'd insulted her boss so easily, but it felt good to play with him like this. He laughed and stood up, moving around to kiss her on the cheek.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Great."

He smirked.

"What?" she said, when he kept staring at her.

"Nothing?"

"What?"

"Sleep well?" he asked, smug, smirking again, before wrapping an arm around her to pull her close to him.

"Maybe," she said, coy about it. She wrapped her arms around him, letting herself be held. She loved this, this change in their relationship. She'd be afraid, but the feeling of warmth, spreading right through from her heart, more than made up for it.

"You were thinking about me weren't you?" Tony accused, his tone playful.

The bright red tinge across her cheeks and down her chest gave her away, she knew as much, so she didn't deny it.

"Were you thinking about me?" she asked, kissing him on the lips.

"No one else I'd want to think about," he said.

"I take it you were more successful this time," she said, trying not to laugh.

"Maybe," she said, "not enough though."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused for a second. He went to laugh, but she saw him hold it back.

"I want you Pep," he said, with kiss that melted her spine a little bit.

"Oh," she said. She didn't think she could blush any brighter red.

So I was thinking," he said, taking a step away, to fetch his coffee, and Pepper frowned at him. The last time he had done any thinking he'd asked her to have his baby and they'd started a relationship. She didn't think she could take much more in so few days.

"About?" she asked, stretching the word out slowly, wary of the answer.

"About baby names."

"Tony," she groaned.

"I was thinking Eric was a good name."

"Eric?"

"Yeah, Eric."

"That's my dad's name."

"I know." He grinned. "Eric Howard Stark."

"How do you know my dads name?" she asked.

"Pepper," he said, raising an eyebrow. "You've been my PA for how many years now? I know everything about you."

"You do?"

She didn't want to sound as panicked as she did, and she wasn't even sure what the worry was about.

"Yep."

He seemed so sure as well, which usually meant he was right, and it was a little disconcerting to think that he did know everything. She was certain that she had a level of anonymity about her, even around Tony.

"You've told me things Pep, and I've paid attention."

"But you can't remember my birthday?"

"I remember two dates. My own birthday and the death of my parents."

"Sorry," she said, "and you don't always remember your birthday though."

"I do!" he protested.

"2003."

"Okay, that year I did think it was the week before, but I was drunk for an entire month celebrating, something or other."

"Halloween," she said.

"Oh yeah." he smiled at her. "But I know things about you, that's the issue here."

"Right."

"Your dad was Eric Potts your mom Suzanne, no siblings. You like cheesecake, you drink diet coke but don't notice if someone gives you regular coke. Your guilty pleasure is TheOC and One Tree Hill..."

"I knew I'd regret that wine."

He laughed.

"But at least I don't watch Wife Swap."

Hey!" he cried. "It's funny."

"If you say so."

"You like that programme, with the models."

"Project Runway? Or Next Top Model," she said. "Cause I know you watch them both too. For different reasons to me though."

"Hot models."

She rolled her eyes.

"Please tell me that's why you watch it."

"Pervert."

He laughed and kissed her.

"I love you too."

She blushed, the confession made her feel a little funny still.

"Look I observe everyone and everything to a certain degree. I like to know how people work, I can't help it. I tried to switch it off once, and, well, I celebrated Halloween for four weeks."

She laughed.

"I knew you were observant, I just didn't realise you were observing me too."

"Of course."

She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"So Eric?" he asked.

"Tony, we're not talking abut baby names!" she cried. "We haven't had sex yet!"

"Not for the lack of trying," he said.

She blushed, smile and kissed him.

"We'll get to it."

"I'm not pushing Pep, honest."

She nodded, she knew that.

"Let me cook for you tonight," she said. "We can talk more about baby names."

"Really?"

"No."

He laughed.

"My apartment, seven."

"I'll be there Pep."

"Do you have to call me Pep?" she asked frowning.

"Yep. It's my prerogative as your boyfriend."

"Really?"

"It's in the rule book."

"What rule book? The one in your head?" she asked, not even hesitating with the insult.

"The relationship rulebook."

"There is no suck thing!"

"There should be," he grumbled.

She kissed him.

"I'll see you later Mr. Stark," she said.

"Okay."

She finished the rest of her coffee, already thinking about picking up a second on the way into the office, she headed out of the door when she heard him call out to her again.

"I was thinking about Sophie for a girl."

"Not talking about it Tony!" she called back before climbing the stairs.


	10. Sure

Tony knocked on her door a second time and tapped his foot with impatience. He couldn't help himself, he wasn't used to people not jumping immediately at his command. Hell, he wasn't used to Pepper not jumping at his command. It wasn't her job as his girlfriend though. He just always liked to be answered straight away, within seconds, time was important to him. Which really threw him because he didn't want to rush Pepper into bed, but he did want her to answer the door right now.

He gave it a whole minute before knocking again.

"Sorry," Pepper said, in a rush of breath when the door swung open. "Hi."

He hadn't seen her all day, she'd gone into the office and he'd taken the day off. She looked like an entirely different woman from the PA who kissed him in his workshop this morning. This was the Pepper who had almost kissed him on the balcony at the benefit months and months ago. The Pepper from last night, a woman he was still getting to know. Her hair was in loose curls, and her dress reached to her knees, but so did the _V_ of her cleavage, almost, and he couldn't quite tell what colour it was with the view of so much skin. So much breast.

"Wow."

"Stop staring Tony," she said, crossing her arms.

"Wow."

"My face is here."

"Wow."

"Do you want to come in?" she asked, stepping to one side.

"No, I kinda want to stand here and stare at you some more."

"Tony."

"What did you expect wearing a dress like that?" he asked, finally looking into her eyes.

"For you to at least come in before you start leering, jeez."

He laughed and followed her into her apartment, looking around to see what had changed since he'd been there last. Not much on the surface, a new picture and a new vase, but little else. Nothing of consequence. He was glad to see the flowers he'd sent over were arranged nicely in the new vase though.

"I forgot to bring wine," he said, remembering suddenly.

"It doesn't matter Tony. I have wine."

"Do you have beer?"

She laughed.

"I may have bought a six pack for you."

"Thanks Pep."

"That's starting to grow on me," she told him, going into her kitchen.

Tony flopped down onto her sofa, sinking into the cushions. He loved her sofa, much preferred it to his own sofas, and had offered to buy it from her a couple of times for obscene amounts of money but to no avail. Hopefully she'd move into the mansion soon and bring her comfy piece of furniture with her.

"The nickname?" he called out.

"Yeah," she said coming back into the lounge with a beer and a glass of wine. She sat down next to him.

"I'm not selling you the sofa Tony."

"How did you-"

"You ask every time you sit on it."

"I can wait until you move in with me."

"Really."

"Yep. Then everything you own is half mine," he said, with a smug grin.

"I suppose. Assuming we marry."

"We will."

"You seem very sure of yourself for a man on a second date."

"I love you, you love me, we're gonna have a baby together. The other stuff is inevitable."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"You do know that everything you own becomes half mine."

"I know. I'd give you half now if you wanted."

I don't," she said. "Anyway, dinner won't be long."

"Good. I'm starving."

"Did you eat today?" she asked.

"I'm not a child. I don't need you to mother me all the time."

"You have Jarvis for the times I'm not there."

"And I programmed him to remind me to eat all by myself."

She laughed, leaning forward to kiss him. He kissed back, hungry for her too, but managing to keep himself in check. He remained in his seat on the sofa, a foot of space between their bodies, her hand on his knee to balance her. A '_ding_' broke them apart and she smiled.

"Dinner's ready," she said, jumping up.

He followed her into the kitchen, her little table set for two, a few the of the flowers he'd sent her in a little vase in the middle, and some candles burning next to them. He sat down at the table and waited. Patiently.

It was possible.

They ate an chatted about their days. He knew most of their days were spent together, but he liked this touch of normalcy to his life. Finishing work for the day, coming home and talking about it with someone. It was very normal, he'd seen his parents do it over and over, and hadn't been part of it himself with anyone other than Pepper.

So things were much the same, like Pepper wanted but he was feeling a little happier now. A little warmer. Also, there was kissing and he did like the kissing a whole lot.

"This is going to work you know," he said, with smile. Pepper swallowed her mouthful of chicken before speaking.

"What it?"

"This thing, between us," he said, gesturing between them. "Our relationship."

"Again, very sure of yourself for a man on his second date."

"Just feels right," he said. "Don't you feel it?" he asked.

"I feel something," she said. "Something good."

Beneath the small table he felt her bare feet slide against his, one foot slipping under his trouser leg to tickle at his calf with her toes. He smiled at her.

"Good."

"Can I ask you something Tony?"

"Anything," she said. "Okay, almost anything."

"Almost anything?"

"June '94, and November '99 are out of bounds."

"I've heard the rumours Tony, I don't want or need to know any more."

He blushed, dipping his head and she laughed, squeezing a leg between hers.

"What did you want to ask?" he said, with a cough, keen to get the conversation away form more embarrassing incidents.

"What brought about this desire to have a baby. An heir."

She rolled her eyes on the word heir and he grinned.

"Is it a new thing?" She continued. "Part of the post-Iron Man Tony Stark, or something you've considered before?"

"I've thought about it, once or twice. Seen kids about, thought about my own parents, but not much before Iron Man."

"Your immortality had made you re-asses."

"Exactly."

"Why now? Why not six months ago?"

He took a long drink of beer before he answered her.

"Things have calmed down," he said. "Not just for the company but between you and me. Things got back to normal so I decided to do something."

She nodded, listening thoughtfully to him, and he watched her face carefully for her reaction.

"What if I had said no?" she asked. "What if I didn't love you?"

"Then I'd die old and alone," he said, sitting back in his chair. "It's not about a family Pep. It's about having a family with you."

He felt like he'd had this conversation with her already, but understood if he had to do it again. And again, and again. However many times it took to convince Pepper that he loved her.

She smiled after a moment and he was warmed by it.

"Are you done?" she asked, pointing at his plate.

"Oh, yeah, thanks."

She untangled her legs from his and stood up to clear the table. He stood to help, together another little domestic moment that he relished.

He said goodbye after another beer and some making out on her sofa. He wasn't really in a rush, despite his body feeling a little desperate and the fact that Pepper's dress was basically a landing strip to her more interesting parts. When he told her so she slapped him, not hard, but it still had a touch of sting in it. She was smiling all the while, and the kiss following it more than made up for it, saying goodbye.

"I love you Tony," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow."


	11. Mission

Nothing had changed. There was kissing certainly, but it wasn't enough to get him into the office on time, and certainly not enough to stop him from going on a mission.

Pepper was there though, watching as the armour was fitted to his body. She was laughing at something, which was odd, but he couldn't ask because he was concentrating on being still, and listening to Jarvis to tell him about the mission. When he was fully suited up, he stepped away form the platform and turned to face her, his helmet in his hand.

"What's so funny?"

"I have no idea," she said, with a chuckle.

"Pep?"

"Sorry, I think it's a touch of hysteria."

"Oh."

"I'll be fine," she smiled, "are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know."

He had to be honest, but he noted she kept her face strong, her smile in place still. The eyes gave a lot away though, but he didn't dare look.

"Odds are for a successful mission Mr. Stark," Jarvis cut in.

"You can't always predict what humans are going to do Jarvis."

"Indeed."

They smiled at that and she went over to him but he took a step back. She looked hurt, and he regretted the decision he had made, but needed to stick with it.

"Don't kiss me goodbye."

"O-Kay."

"I thought about it and decided that it might be distracting," he said, reaching out and taking her hand. "I need my focus."

"I understand."

"I'm sorry."

She squeezed his hand.

"You've nothing to apologise for Tony," she said, with a smile. "Good luck."

"I'll be in touch."

She nodded and he put his helmet on, walking away from her with heavy steps before taking off.

zzzzz

It had been a good idea. Not one he particularly enjoyed, but a good one regardless. He knew Pepper would go straight to her office in the mansion and go back to work, and maybe it was the best thing for both of them. To try and separate things between them for a few vital hours. While he risked his life and took out some weapons, without the distraction of being in love and so she didn't worry too much about him.

He wasn't naive, he knew neither of those things were really going to happen, maybe just lessen a little. As he flew he felt able to focus as before. Before he knew Pepper was in love with him too, before he knew what it was like to kiss her.

"Those new instructions in place, in case of emergency, like dying?" he asked Jarvis.

"Yes Mr. stark."

He had to check, he'd only set them into motion the day before, had only sent the sample to the clinic that morning. It was an idea he'd had while playing around with the codpiece of his suit. If anything happened to him, or his family jewels, he wanted Pepper to still be able to have his child. So his sperm was in storage, just in case he didn't come back from a mission, with instructions that Pepper would be told of it's existence three months after any disappearance. He wasn't sure if he should tell her about it just yet, he didn't want to cause her to worry any more, and didn't want to pressure her any more. Just because his boys were there, didn't mean she had to have a child, his child, it just meant she could. If she wanted to.

He realised he was getting distracted as the Atlantic ocean came into view below him, and he had Jarvis go over some of the mission specs again, had the AI repeat the information until he could repeat it himself and be ready. Be successful.

zzzzz

She understood Tony's reasoning, she really did, and agreed with it if it worked for him. It wasn't working for her though. She as just as worried as ever. No more or less. Which proved the strength of her feelings for Tony had been there all along. She didn't like that she hadn't always been clear about her feelings but she had time to worry about it later.

Right now she was too busy worrying about Tony.

She went to her office set up in the mansion, a little work portal away from the HQ, planning to carry on with the days activities. Emails, phone calls, reports, putting meetings on hold, she could do these things while she worried, possibly while she slept but she didn't enjoy the tasks when her mind was so occupied.

All the baby talk seemed insignificant, pointless, when she knew Tony was in danger like this. He didn't want to rush her, they shouldn't have a baby for a months, years, but she felt rushed by circumstance. If Tony died today during this mission, then it was too late, and deep down she wanted a family. She'd always wanted children, eventually, but the eventuality of it had gotten further and further away in recent years. Until a few days ago.

Damn him.

She sighed, tapped a few random letters on keyboard, her email starting _'Mr Hbvggg'_ instead of _'Mr Howard'_, and she was reminded of the names Tony wanted to call the baby. Eric Howard Stark.

She liked it.

She needed to focus.

She curbed her impulse to have Jarvis check on Tony's progress, he'd been gone less than two hours, and went back to work. Her job didn't stop because Tony wasn't around. Just her heart.

zzzzz

He came back battered but in one piece.

She had come into the mansion each day at eight, rather than six, which had become her routine while Tony was on mission or on business somewhere without her. She didn't get up any later, but went to the office to pick up anything she might need before heading to the empty house for her work day. As his PA she needed to be wherever he was, or as close as she could get. That had been her reasoning a few months ago, when she was trying to kid herself for the real reason for this new routine. Not that it mattered any more, or mattered then really. No one really questioned the work she did for Tony, or the hours she kept.

She watched as the suit was taken apart and pulled from his body. There was no laughter this time, just relief. Tony was smiling, holding still as he could until he was fully free and he looked in tact. She could feel the usual words of this routine on her tongue, she was ready to ask if he had any injuries, if he needed anything, but it didn't seem right. Not to just launch into business mode, they had blurred the line and she felt lost until he was kissing her.

She hadn't even seen him step away from the platform and walk over to her, but he had and was wrapping his arms around her and kissing hard. He smelt and tasted awful, but felt wonderful, and she kissed him back until she needed air.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

She still didn't know what to say, so she kissed him once more, gripping his arms tight.

"Need an ice pack?" she asked, when he pulled away, more through a wobble than through any choice.

He laughed then and she smiled.

"Just a shower, and a lie down."

"I think both can be arranged," she said taking his hands to lead him upstairs. "I missed you," she added, in a quiet voice.

He didn't reply, but felt him squeeze her hand in response.


	12. Photo

They decided to go out. They couldn't hide the relationship forever, and Tony didn't want to. Though he was pretty sure Pepper would be against him parading her on TV, however much he wanted to show her off. He liked the idea of having Pepper on his arm for everyone to see. Not because she was beautiful, or at least, not just because she was beautiful, but Pepper made him look good, look like a better man than he believed he was. Always had. She made him look like he had a good heart, made it seem like he could be kind and charitable, when in the past he'd been anything but.

He liked to think he was a good man now, or better at least, but having the eternally perfect Pepper Potts on his arm helped convince the rest of the world, and himself.

She looked beautiful. Black dress and matching stilettos with gold soles. If they were having sex already, he'd have tried to convince to skip dinner for bed, but as it was, he ran a finger along the thin gold chain around her neck, enjoying her shiver. She smiled, and stopped his hand from going lower, kissing him as a distraction. She was good, and in turn he could behave.

Until after dinner.

She looked anxious. Her face was a perfect mask of cool confidence, but there was minute tremor in her voice, on every sixth word, which was strange, but Pepper's anxiety had always been a foreign concept to him. She only worried when he was on a mission. He assumed. He still felt like he was getting to know her.

"Pep?"

He placed a hand on her shoulder as they were shown to their table. The restaurant was full, and he could feel a few eyes on them already.

"Hmmm?"

"You okay?"

She nodded, her answering smile a little too bright, false, as they sat down at the table and the waiter handed them wine menus. When they were alone though, the mask slipped away, her smile smaller, softer, but genuine.

"You're not okay," he stated.

"I'm-I'm a little nervous."

"Why?"

"We'll be in the tabloids tomorrow," she said, "on television."

"Is that so bad?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, which makes me anxious."

"I see."

"I don't mind being seen with you," she said, words coming quickly, "as your girlfriend I mean, I just, not sure about the publicity."

"You don't want the attention."

"I only want your attention," she said, smiling at him.

"Oh."

He didn't quite know what to do with that information, her whole world had centred on him, her confession deeper than all the thoughts he had. Again. He was used to attention in most forms, but it had been a long time since he'd had to give his attention to someone he loved and loved him.

"Drinks Sir?"

He looked away from Pepper to the waiter by the table, pen and pad ready, and couldn't find his tongue. Pepper saved him, ordering wine for them both, and reaching across to take his hand.

When they were alone again, he still couldn't speak.

"If we're in the gossip columns tomorrow, or not, I'll have a press release put together anyway," she was saying.

"How about a press conference?" he asked. "I could kiss you over the podium."

He fell back into flirting and sexual banter easily, but it was safer than what he was feeling in his racing heart.

"You weren't going to say kiss were you?"

She said it with a grin, her skin flushing in the low light.

"No," he said, making her laugh. "I was going to say-"

"I know what you were going to say Tony," she cut in, still laughing, still blushing.

"It's second nature," he apologised, "can't help it."

"I'm pretty sure it's your first nature Tony," she said. "I love you anyway."

"That's okay then."

There was a touch of relief in his voice and he hoped Pepper didn't hear it. All his character defects were still there, could still push her away at any time.

She squeezed the hand she was holding.

z

"So I was thinking," she said later while they were eating. "Amelia or Ella for a girl."

"Huh?"

He looked up from his steak to see her grinning at him.

"Baby names?"

They'd been dating for three weeks and the talk of babies had been put aside for the last two, and Tony was a little shocked at the mention of it. He hadn't realised she was still thinking about it, let alone considering baby names.

"Amelia Earhart?" he asked recovering.

"I just like the name."

"Amelia Stark," he said. "Nice."

She smiled.

"Glad I'm not the only one with babies on the brain."

"I do want a family Tony," she said, "but most people, they date, marry, set up house together and then have the kids. And they do it over the course of a few years," she paused the take a sip of her wine, "you want it quicker than that."

"I know but-"

"Let me finish," she said. He nodded. "You've always worked faster than normal people, in everything you do-"

"Not in bed," he muttered.

She blushed but ignored him.

"I can keep up with you professionally, figured out how to do that quite quickly, but it's taking a bit longer personally."

"Pepper, I'm sorry, really."

"I'm not blaming you for anything Tony," she said, smiling, "I like who you are, I just need time to adjust."

"Take as long as you need."

zzzzz

They were in the gossip columns the next day, which included a dozen internet articles and one short segment on TV.

Pepper found she didn't mind too much.

The night before, Happy had picked them up from the restaurant and driven them to Pepper's apartment, and had been surprised when he hadn't pushed to come up. She had been considering having sex with him, God knows she wanted to, but was holding back from crossing the line still. Something in their conversation the night before had restrained him, and while she was glad of it, that she had the time to sort her own head out, she missed the tempting touches. Not that he hadn't kissed her thoroughly goodnight, leaving her dizzy.

Back at the mansion, she knew Tony would probably resettle into his normal routine of sexual innuendo and flirting, that he'd upped since they'd starting dating, into way past appropriate for public. Not that Tony cared, he had an extrovert side that pushed him to want to do things like fuck her over a podium in front of a gaggle of reporters.

Thankfully, for now, a short press release would suffice. The reports on her and Tony were all rumours, and more or less true, a little something from PR would confirm things for the press that's all. No point in lying.

It wasn't the first time she'd been in the limelight with Tony, or in her own right, and she had always tried to ignore any press attention on herself, while Tony revelled in it sometimes. She tried to let negative press go over her had, but she couldn't help the sting she felt when she was attacked. Tony had been right, she was confident, but her self esteem was rocky at times.

There were photos of the two of them coming out of the restaurant, holding hands. She looked okay, Tony looked...happy.

It was the only way to describe it really, a look of contentment that she had only seen a few times while in his employment. He was gorgeous. She had Jarvis find a high quality version of the picture and print it off. It would look good in her apartment she decided, she didn't have any pictures of him there, she'd been worried about letting him into her last private space on a permanent basis, but wanted to. There was some apprehension, like having sex with Tony, it made it real, the change in their relationship. Despite the dating, the kissing, and groping.

Hopefully the picture would at least cement the idea into her head.

With Tony's sleepy agreement, and after half an attempt to entice into bed with him, she had PR release a statement. She left him in bed, but he padded after her, walking into the lounge sweats, topless, hair fantastically rumpled. He had slept more in the past few weeks, and she wondered if it was down to the change in their relationship. Most likely, she deduced.

"What did PR say?" he asked.

"They'll gage the response to the release and get back to us," she said, "and congratulations."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"Until then-"

"Until then it's Saturday," he cut in, "so we can spend the day together, lounging."

"You know full well it's Friday, and we'll be spending the day together, working."

"Well, at least we'll be together."

She smiled at that, kissing him when he leaned over.

"How do you feel about the publicity?"

"Okay, you look good."

"I know, I saw the picture." She smiled. "You look amazing."

She shrugged.

"It's an average photo of me. I can be more photogenic."

He was looking at her, completely baffled and she laughed.

"I was a model, I know what a good photo of me looks like."

He pulled a face, but she kissed him before he could argue her point.

"Whatever."


	13. Sleep

Pepper talked in her sleep.

Tony was delighted to discover this a couple of years ago. She'd finally gotten comfortable in both his presence, and his mansion, to fall asleep there. It had taken her a long time to get to that point, and it had taken Tony that long to trust her and let her in, like that at least. Very few people had the opportunity to make themselves comfortable in his home, and Pepper was one of those, now at least.

Of course slowly, too damn slowly in Tony's opinion, the mansion was becoming Pepper's home and she slept there often. That first time though, she had slumped to one side, her blackberry still in her hand, murmuring quietly. He'd moved her, shifted her so she was lying down, struggling a little with the straps on her heels, the fastenings a little difficult and the shoes very sexy. When she was settled, she mumbled a thank you and he thought she was awake until she called him Alvin.

"I just need twenty minutes hun," she'd told him, and he'd smiled at that, ignoring the fact she'd called him Alvin, or thought he was Alvin. Later she confessed to dreaming about the chipmunks, much to Tony's almost hysterical amusement.

"Take all the time you need Ms. Potts," he'd told her, before covering her up with a blanket.

That had been one late night, three years ago, and now it was early in the morning, four am, and she'd stayed up to see him safe home from a mission. Had tried to stay up, he discovered her under a heap of blankets obviously placed on her by one of the bots, judging by the lack of finesse in their covering, on the workshop sofa.

"Pepper," he said quietly, once the suit was away and he'd shooed both the bots away.

He almost didn't want to wake her, because she'd sleep through the morning, and needed the rest. She'd be angry though, with him, because her morning, their morning, would be screwed up. Because she couldn't check that he wasn't injured.

"Yeah?"

"I'm back."

"Where are the llamas?" she asked him, her voice light and childlike and he chuckled quietly.

"Sorry Pep, no llamas today."

Her brown wrinkled and he didn't think he'd ever seen anyone sleep-pout before.

"Daddy you promised," she replied.

He smiled, she was dreaming of her father and he knew from experience how precious those dreams were. How sad you were when you woke. He liked talking to Peer when she was asleep, it was funny, but he never interfered with dreams about her parents. Ex-boyfriends and chipmunks were fair game, he'd decided, but her parents, off-limits.

"Pepper, it's me Tony, wake up," he shook her gently and she grumbled.

"Did you bring llamas Tony?"

"Sorry, no, wake-"

"Daddy was right, I am an idiot," she muttered into the pillow, turning away from him.

"Why?" he asked. "Because of me?" he added, Pepper's subconscious panicking him a little.

"Yeah-sorta."

"Why?"

He dropped down to his knees to lean in close so he couldn't miss her answer.

"Because of the left handed baby."

"What?"

The problem with talking to Pepper in her sleep, he remembered, was, not all of what she said made sense. Actually, very little made sense, and he decided to wake her, shaking her harder this time. Her eyes popped open, wide and startled for a moment, before she smiled and hugged him close.

"Tony, are you okay? Any injuries?" she asked.

"Couple of bruises in places I'd rather not mention in front of the bots, but I'm okay."

She kissed him, he'd missed it, they were still trying the 'no kiss goodbye' experiment. Which he was ready to give up on very soon.

"You were talking in your sleep again," he told her.

"Oh no," she groaned. "What did I say?" She was already blushing red.

"You were asking about llamas, said your dad was right you are an idiot and something about a left handed baby."

"Weird. I remember dreaming about llamas though," she said. "That's what I get for falling to sleep to nature programmes."

"You said you were an idiot because of me. Or that's why your dad though you were an idiot," he said, ignoring what she said.

He was still on his knees, arms wrapped around her and she mumbled his name and moved to sit up, pulling out of the awkward position. He moved to sit next to her and she smiled.

"Is it true? Would he think that?"

"Yes," she said. "Though, not for reasons you might think."

"What then?"

He was hungry, thirsty, tired and bruised but this was so muh more important all of a sudden, and neither of them were leaving the workshop until he had an answer.

"He was like you, in his ways. Did everything at his own speed, fast, slow, whatever. People either had to catch up or slow down, and if you didn't he had no time for you."

Tony smiled at that, it sounded familiar.

"He didn't like to waste time either, I mean, my mother was two months pregnant when she walked down the aisle. Though they told my grandmother I was premature."

He laughed at that and she leaned into him, yawning and relaxing. Either she had a cold coming, or was too tired to care, but Tony knew he smelt awful.

"Pepper, what's this got to do with you being an idiot.?"

"My dad would think I'm wasting time, these past few weeks, dating and getting used to the idea of a relationship. Especially as we've known each other for years. He'd think I was an idiot for not being pregnant already, or at least trying hard."

"I'm all for trying hard," he said, unable to keep a straight face.

"Tony."

"Sorry. There's no rush."

"Maybe he's right though. Maybe I am an idiot."

"What are you saying?"

She thought about it and smiled at him.

"I'm saying you need to have a shower, a sandwich and some sleep," she said, kissing him. "And we'll talk more later."

"You staying over?"

"Of course."

"You staying over with me."

"Tony."

"No more wasting time Pep."

"You need sleep."

"That's all I want, I promise, a bit of sleep. With you."

She kissed him.

"Okay. It's nearly five anyway."

"Come on Potts, you can have a lie in, I promise, only sleep. It's all I'm capable of."

"No lie ins. And I know you Stark. If you wanted it badly enough you'd find the energy."

"Of course I would. I'm sure there's something appropriate and chemical in the house still, that would do the job."

"We might have to have a talk about that," she said, pulling him to his feet once she was on hers.

" November '99 Potts. Off-limits remember."


	14. Dress

She didn't actually sleep.

Tony was out the moment he got into his bed, and Pepper sat down next to him for a while, holding his hand as he slept, thinking. She couldn't stay there, even though she wanted to. She'd fall asleep and they'd both sleep through the morning meetings. One of them had to attend at least.

After an hour of sitting and watching Tony sleep and the sun rise, she removed his head from where it had been tucked into her side, pulling his hand free too. She stood up, stretched to, smiling at him as he wriggled about in his bed, getting comfortable once more.

"Jarvis," she said, hands on her hips, glow of the sun warming her. "Don't wake Mr. Stark before ten am."

"Yes Miss Potts."

"I'll be at the office until midday at least, if he's not awake by one, wake him and tell him he needs to be at the office by three if he knows what's good for him."

"And if he doesn't?" Jarvis replied, making Pepper chuckle.

"Then I'll be having dinner alone tonight," she said, "No- no, I'll be having dinner with someone else."

She half expected the AI to laugh and paused to hear it, but remember it wasn't coming.

"I need more sleep," she groaned, the comment more to herself than Jarvis.

"Yes Miss Potts," came the reply anyway and she laughed again.

z

He'd only been five minutes late for his afternoon meeting, and she could forgive him for that. He'd been much later for less noble reason.

She couldn't quite forgive herself for being ten minutes late for dinner though, she was never late, but he hadn't cared too much. It had made him a little anxious, she could see it on his face, but he started to relax the moment she kissed him on the cheek after he stood to greet her.

"Traffic?" he asked.

"Dress emergency," she replied, sitting down opposite him.

He raised an eyebrow at that, making her blush. It had just popped out her already flustered mind.

"Maybe not here," she said.

"Oh no, now you've said that-"

"Tony," she cut him off as the waiter came to the table with the wine menus.

Tony ordered, quickly, ushering the man away and Pepper frowned at him.

"Dress emergency?" he asked again.

"It's nothing really."

"Pepper."

"You could see my underwear through it," she whispered, blushing even brighter red.

"Really? And you didn't wear it to dinner?"

"No!"

"Will you wear it to dinner at my place?"

She didn't answer right away, because his charming grin was tempting her to say yes. She decided on, "maybe," instead.

z

They avoided talking throughout most of dinner. They weren't silent, they chatted, small talk, or what counted as small talk for them. Finances, the weather in the middle east (code for his mission), whether Jarvis needed to be programmed with a laugh. They avoided talking about last night and as desert was set down on the table, and Tony looked down her cleavage again, Pepper didn't think she could take much more.

"We need to talk Tony."

She blurted the words, rather than said then, a little spittle escaping that she noticed but thankfully Tony didn't. Or didn't comment on. Either way he was staring at her but wasn't amused.

He was terrified.

"Oh, I know what that means," he said, voice calm, steady.

"How?" she said. "The last serious relationship you had was in college."

Why she decided to bring that up, she didn't know, and later still would be able to work it out. She just hated it when Tony assumed he knew everything.

"Not true."

"Tony, you told me that yourself."

"Oh, yeah, well, I watch TV and I know what '_we need to talk means_'. And it's not good."

She smiled.

"It's not what you think."

"Then what do we need to talk about?"

"Last night."

"Nothing happened last night."

"Not for you I suppose," she said.

Pepper herself had had a little epiphany of sorts.

"I didn't do anything though," he said, then grinning, "Wow, I am good."

She blushed.

"Tony, please concentrate."

"You've known me how long? This is me concentrating."

She'd known him a long time, this was Tony three quarters concentrating.

"Last night, we had the weird sleepy conversation about my dad and I realised something."

"You said your dad would think you're being an idiot."

"For wasting time. He was a big believer in that, even more so after mom died."

He was listening now, concentrating on just her words, instead of her words, _and_ her breasts.

"He always taught me not to waste time. To grab every opportunity I could, when I could."

"That explains a lot," he said.

"Does it?"

She didn't quite agree with his opinion that she was like her father that way. She had let a lot of things slip past her. Too many things. Which was why she was having this conversation she supposed.

"You stormed into my office with an accounting error, completely ignoring the management chain. I'd say that counts as not wasting time."

She blushed.

"Well," she said, brushing that memory off, "what I wanted to say was that this situation, between us, would be one of those times where my father would say I'm wasting time."

"With me?"

His voice peaked a little on the word me, and she smiled, reaching across to take his hand.

"No, by not being pregnant already."

"So what are you saying?"

She wasn't sure, because she'd been willing to have his baby, be with him, break the boundaries of their professional relationship and friendship already. She didn't want to be pregnant tomorrow, she just wanted to move things along a little quicker, because, because of a lot of things. Her biological clock was ticking, because Tony Stark was a constant tease and temptation, because she loved him. Because her father had told her if she ever found love she should grab it, even if she got her heart broken.

"So I'm saying, let's go back to the mansion," she said.

He grinned.

"Best thing I've heard all day," Tony said pulling out his wallet to pay for dinner and their uneaten deserts. "Followed closely by the fact you have a see-through dress.

"It's not see-through," she said, standing up, "just flimsier than I first realised."

"I have to see this dress."

"I'm coming home with you, to-" she paused, and he laughed, "and you're interested in a slightly see-though dress."

"Yes, all information is good information," he said, "when it comes to dresses at least."

"Right."

"Not that I don't love this dress though," he said, sliding her hand down her back, and into one to the slits in the material so he could stroke bare skin.

"Let's try and leave with our dignity in tact shall we," Pepper said, pulling his hand off her ass and out of her dress. "Or at least my dignity."


	15. Slow

This was what he had been waiting for, for weeks now, what things had been building up to. This was the part he was good at, but he was letting Pepper lead him through the mansion, lead him through this.

In the bedroom, she stood him at the end of his bed, positioning him his she wanted, arms stretched out, legs spread a little. She smiled at him, kissing him on the lips, the cheek, down his jaw before pulling back to unbuttons his shirt, slowly, material opening bit by bit and exposing his skin. After every button she kissed his chest, working her way down slowly, lips pressing gently on his arc reactor, nipples, abs, until she dropped to her knees before him.

She reached up and put his arms down to his side, his shirt falling to the floor behind him. He looked down at her in wonder, not exactly knowing what she was doing, but loving her all the same. She kissed the patch of hair on his navel, making him groan, leaning back on her heels to pull open his belt buckle and trouser fly. She pulled the slacks down, as slowly as she removed his shirt, fingers brushing lightly down his legs, tickling the back of his knees. That made him jerk a little, and groan again. She smiled at him, urging him to lift one leg up, then the other, so she could remove his pants and socks.

She didn't speak, and he didn't quite know what to say either. He just waited for her next move, her next instruction.

She leaned forward on her knees, mouthing his semi-hard erection through the boxers he wore, wetting the material and making him hiss.

"Get on the bed," she said, quietly.

He nodded dumbly, moving around the bed to lie in the middle of it, resting on his elbows to watch her.

Pepper reached behind her and tugged on the zip of her dress, letting it pool at her feet and she stood before him in just a black thong. Tony was pretty sure his brain was going to short out. She removed the thong as gracefully as anyone could and he reached down to palm his dick at the sight of the neatly trimmed copper curls at her centre, long legs, perfect breasts. She was beautiful.

"Hands off," she said, moving towards him, and he placed his hands by his side immediately.

She straddled him, leaning to kiss him, and he took up a fistful of a the sheet, arching his body up into hers. She took his hands and placed them on her hips. She pulled back a touch, smiling.

"You can touch me Tony," she said, softly, "just not yourself."

"Whatever you say Pep," he muttered, moving his hands up her back, running his fingers into the loose red curls. She caressed his lips and mouth with her tongue, and they made out on his bed for long minutes, hips thrusting minutely into each other. Tony couldn't keep his hands still as she kissed him senseless, her hands cupping his face. He ran them up and down her back, around her waist, up to her breasts and she groaned when he kneaded them. He pinched her nipples and her hips jerked hard against him, making them both cry out.

He put his hands on her hips again, holding onto one side, moving his other hand down to her clit and stroking gently. She moaned loudly shifting her hips, until she was pressing down on his erection heavily. He tried to hold back his groan, and she thrust into his hands as he pushed a finger into her body, her every breath now a gasp.

"Tony, please," she moaned.

"Please what?" he asked, voice hoarse. "Please stop? Please make you come? Please fuck you?"

He grinned at the extra flush of anger that stained her already red face, and pushed another finger into her body, holding them still and letting Pepper fuck herself on his fingers. With his other hand, he pinched her clit and she cried out, shaking above him, around his fingers. The heat and wetness was wonderful, and he slowly removed them, licking them clean as she came down from her high.

He pulled her down and held her tight, kissing her, smiling the entire time, before rolling them both over. He looked down at her and she still had her eyes closed.

"Pepper," he whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Open you eyes."

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"Scared."

"Of what?" he asked, panicking.

"This," she said. "Us. Makes it real."

He didn't understand, and kissed her, relieved when she kissed back, grabbing his hands. She moved one above her right hip, beneath her body, and she felt the birth control patch.

"Take it off," she told him. "Carefully."

"Only if you open your eyes," he said.

There was a moment, a breath, before she did so, smiling up at him.

"I love you," he told her, pulling the patch from her skin.

"Love you too Tony," she said.

They both knew it wasn't going to happen right away, it was just the progression of things, of their relationship. Tony suspected it made the whole relationship more real for Pepper. Dates, groping, even an orgasm, didn't quite cement it for her, but this, this she couldn't deny.

He pushed into her, his thrusts a stutter almost as the heat surrounded him, making him groan. Pepper was gasping on every push deeper into her body and he when he was completely inside her his head started to spin.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Oh God yes," she said, arching her body up into his. Her eyes were closed again, face twisted, head thrown back against the pillow..

"Good," he groaned, pulling out of her body, erection slick and hot, immediately missing the tight pressure. He pushed back in, and she moaned, a long low '_oh_' and he groaned too.

Tony shifted her hips up, and she wrapped her legs around his waists. He stilled himself again, kissing her on the lips until she yanked her lips away from his.

"Move, Tony, move," she whimpered and he smirked doing as she wanted, pulling out and pushing in.

He started up a slow rhythm, very slow, torturing them both. Every pull out made Pepper whimper, gave Tony a second to breathe, to think. Every push in made them groan in unison, Pepper's groan a little more high pitched, moving her hips in counterpoint to his. Moving slow like this, was both torturous and wonderful. Her body was so tight, legs squeezing his waist, skin soft under his hands. It was all so fucking good.

He couldn't tell her that, couldn't get a word out, all he could do was keep up the agonising pace and enjoy the intense pleasure working it's way up his spine.

"Please, Tony please," Pepper managed to get out.

"What?" he choked. "What?"

"Mo-"

Mo?

She wanted more, _God he wanted more too,_ and he gripped her hips harder and started to move faster. With more force.

Every inward thrust made her cry out and he relished in the sound, enjoying it as much as the pleasure itself. Pepper was as hot on the inside as her now flushed, burning skin. Her eyes were open now, watching him, mouth slack, her cries getting louder and louder. He kissed her, and she bit down on his lip, making his growl in pin and fuck her harder. He lost his mind a little in the movements and felt her come, her nails digging into his back, muscles in his leg squeezing his waist, her internal muscles pulsing around him and he was pretty sure he could die happy.

He closed his eyes, found a little energy to thrust in just a little harder as she shook beneath him, little cries escaping her mouth while he fucked her until he broke, coming inside her with a shout and a jerk of his hips.

He knew he was too heavy, but she didn't move to push him away, hands stroking over his sweaty back, kissing his cheek. Her legs fell away from his waist and onto the bed heavily, and he pulled his head up to look at her.

Pepper was smiling at him, eyes barely open but a lazy happy grin on her face.

"Good?" he asked.

"Amazing Tony."

"Good," he said, finally putting his hands firmly on the bed to push himself up, off and out of her body. She groaned a little and so did he, falling to the side beside her, arms around her. She shifted into his body.

"Hey Pep?" he muttered into her hair. "Will you marry me?"

He spoke so quietly, half afraid she would say no, and hoping that she didn't hear him ask if that was the case.

"On one condition," she said, lifting her head up to smile.

"Anything," he breathed out.

"Don't tell anyone you asked me to marry you while we were in bed naked."


	16. Cute

He had several suits in his basement that could put holes in buildings miles away, and he travelled the world, kicking the asses of bad guys and bombs. And he did it without flinching (mostly) and without fear (more often than not).

What did scare him though was the breast pump sitting in it's box, on his coffee table.

It was terrifying.

Pepper had moved in over a year ago, and he had adjusted to all of her things, all of the _female_ things, that had sprung up in his mansion. Their mansion. It had been a bit of struggle, and an education, but he'd gotten through it with most of his dignity in tact.

And the vibrators had been fun.

Since Pepper become pregnant, the baby things had been slowly building up in the mansion too. They'd turned a room into a nursery, but the things weren't confined to it. Tony was designing a baby proofed area for his workshop, but Pepper wasn't keen on the idea. Not that he was listening to her. It had always been hard for him to pay attention to her words and not her body; to keep eye to eye contact, instead of eye to breast contact. It was even harder as her body changed with pregnancy, her breasts swelling, her belly growing, she was gorgeous; and mostly able to look as glamorous as ever.

No one looked glamorous throwing up, and the morning sickness had lasted a while.

He liked the toys though, and the tiny clothes. The socks were especially cute, he thought, and had decided to keep that to himself. Cuddly bears, mobiles, cots, prams, pushchairs, bedding, nappies, pacifiers. It was an endless list of things they needed, that included a breast pump.

"Tony, you're obsessing again," Pepper said, coming to sit down next to him, hesitating before she dropped down onto the sofa. She had to make sure it was worth it, before she committed herself. She was never comfortable, and couldn't always get up. This made Tony smile, which he hid behind his terror and disgust at the breast pump.

"It's just not right," he said.

They'd had this conversation already, a few weeks ago, when it was first delivered to the mansion. He was pretty sure she was keeping it in the main living room to torture him. A little bit of payback for insisting on having children and the eight and a half months of hell she'd been through.

"It will just make things a little easier," she told him, leaning over with a groan, to move it away from him.

"It's just wrong."

"You said that already."

He remembered his argument being a little better, a little more reasonable a few weeks ago. Maybe not logical though, he was effectively jealous of a milking machine, but he wasn't ready to admit it. He liked Pepper's breasts, a lot, and was about to say that when she groaned again, louder this time, and clutching her stomach.

"Braxton-Hicks?" he asked, reaching out to take her hand. She'd been suffering from the false labour on and off for a couple of weeks now, the panic Tony had felt about the contractions had long gone. Mostly.

"No-o," she said. "I don't think so."

"You sure?"

"My waters just broke."

She spoke calmly, but Tony jumped to his feet, running across the room.

"I'll get the bag," he started to say, running off his list of things to do, "Jarvis get Happy at the front door now, Pepper do you- Pepper?"

He stopped when he realised she wasn't behind him, and turned to see her still on the sofa, smiling at him.

"I need a hand up off the sofa first."

z

His son was the cutest thing ever created, and the best thing he had ever created. Hands down, no contest, even more amazing than the Iron Man suit and the Arc reactor that was keeping him alive.

Nineteen hours of labour pretty much guaranteed he probably wouldn't get to create another one.

Pepper had managed to get a little sleep, and didn't look as exhausted as before. She was watching him cradle the baby, smiling and he couldn't stop smiling.

"He's so cute," he said. "Seriously cute. I knew he would be, because, look at me, and you, us, but seriously, he's so cute."

"So are you," Pepper said. with a laugh.

"I've told you before, Iron Man is not cute."

"New father Tony Stark is though," she said.

The baby started to grumble a little and Tony handed him back to Pepper, ruffling the tuft of black hair on his head when he was settled in Pepper's arms. So far he couldn't figure out who he looked like, just that he was cute, and he stood over the two of them, watching as Pepper exposed a breast for his son to suckle on.

"See, that's normal!" he said. "And beautiful."

"Tony," she muttered.

In the few hours his son had been alive, they'd had this discussion too.

"Every time you breast feed I want to be there," he said. "They're my breasts as much as his."

"Two things Tony," Pepper said, in her best office voice, wincing a little as '_Baby Boy Stark_' fed. "One, they're my breasts, and two, you're cracked."

"I agree with the second point."

She laughed, trying not to jostle her son too much.

"So, what shall we call him?" Pepper said, deciding not to argue over the ownership of her breasts with him.

"I still like Eric," he told her and she smiled.

"He might be too cute for an Eric."

"He's too cute for anything," Tony said. "Eric Howard Stark. Unless you want Potts-Stark."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "When we get married, I'll take your name, I already told you that."

"I know, I'm just checking."

"Kiss me," she said, and he did as she demanded, leaning down to capture her lips for a long kiss. "Love you."

"Love you too Pep," he said. "and you little Eric."

The baby simply burbled in reply, letting go of Pepper, full for the moment. She shifted him to burp him with ease, which surprised her, but not Tony. Pepper was a natural, and he had known she would be.

"If I let you use the breast pump on me, would that help?" she asked, glancing away from her son for a moment.

Tony thought about it for a minute, trying to visualise himself using the pump on Pepper.

"Not sure," he decided. "Looking forward to finding out."


End file.
